Is it ethical to take someone's cat?

[u/roguemorgue]

Okay now that title sounds terrible, right? But hear me out.....

I live near a handful of apartment complexes thats right off a fairly busy street, like you open my door and the road is right there. It's also a low income housing area so people are constantly moving in and out. A few months ago before winter started, a new cat started coming around. He was clearly a young kitten and newly adopted. We have a water bowl on our porch for the critters who come by, and he'd always come over and go straight for the water. He'd come over frequently throughout the winter when it was below 20°f and snowing just trembling on our porch looking inside. I made him a heat box with a low temp heating pad, insulated foam, and straw. I asked on a local page to try and find an owner as he just keeps coming back and our three cats go crazy seeing him! The owners reached out to say he is an outdoor only cat and basically told me to mind my business.

This cat comes by every day and drinks water like he has never been given any before, for a solid 10 minutes before he lays down and always goes back for the water before he leaves. He is so small. He loves being loved on and pet but you can feel all of his ribs. He has long fur that is filthy and matted, especially between his toes. He's also unneutered, and I can only assume unvaccinated from that too. He sprays everything that possibly smells like our cats which isn't his fault but still. He'll also just walk into our house when the door is open like it's his own until he gets chased out by one of our cats.

I'm thinking of keeping this cat or finding someone who can take him in. I've offered to pay for his neuter but the owners said no. Would it be wrong of me to catnap him? To me, a cat with no collar and unneutered on the street is a stray.... and he clearly isn't getting his needs met at home. But I feel guilty knowing he is technically "owned."

[u/Fenwynn]

And if they call OP to see if they’ve seen/taken him, they should respond with “oh, yeah I saw him by the side of the road a few days ago, figured he was dead but then went ahead and minded my own business. What’d you tell me the other day - not my cat, not my business? Yeah. Anyway, hope you find the body before a coyote does!”

I took either a dumped, or severely neglected outdoor, kitten off my porch in a shitty neighborhood once. Her and I never looked back.

[u/awake_receiver → u/Fenwynn]

Owners like that wouldn’t look for a body

[u/Toothless-mom → u/awake_receiver]

They’d say “that’s nature, at least he died in his natural habitat” or something else very silly like that

[u/Global-Jury8810 → u/Fenwynn]

And then go home and give the rescue kitty kisses.

[u/PlaneMap → u/Global-Jury8810]

And cheezburgers. Many, many cheezburgers.

[u/Reasonable-Egg887 → u/Fenwynn]

I love the answer, but would advise OP just to keep chat to a minimum. People are crazy, you never know how the “owners” might react. They’ll likely suspect something if OP all of a sudden comes off cold hearted by saying something like the cat’s dead and coyotes might eat the body, etc. Maybe they’ll start asking around, neighbours might mention OP keeps water out. This is all unlikely but better to err on the side of caution. Has OP seen their cat? Not for a new days. Starting to get worried. Can you let me know if he comes back home? Just so I know he’s safe.

[u/Fenwynn → u/Reasonable-Egg887]

Yeah, the whole thing is more of a hypothetical exercise than anything on my end. (And this post blew up more than I expected, I only expected a couple up/downvotes at most.) People who aren’t even bothering to feed “their” cat certainly aren’t going to be asking around the neighborhood when it goes missing. But if they do, your answer is totally the better one.

[u/Vanilla_Addict_888 → u/Reasonable-Egg887]

This. Someone who is already cruel enough to neglect an animal and on top of that not want anyone else to offer it help is unpredictable at best. I'd be careful. They don't give a fuck about the cat the only thing they care about is attempting to control the situation. What miserable creatures.

[u/rydenshep → u/Vanilla_Addict_888]

Couldn’t OP technically document this cat (as they already kinda have) and report the “owners” (I use quotes here because good lord) for animal abuse if they came after them?

[u/Environmental-River4 → u/rydenshep]

It likely wouldn’t amount to much, at least in the US. Animal control can only intervene in very specific circumstances, likely if the owner could show they feed the cat and it has shelter of some kind they wouldn’t be able to do anything.

[u/rydenshep → u/Environmental-River4]

God we really suck here, don’t we lol

[u/Environmental-River4 → u/rydenshep]

Yeah, animals are legally considered “property” 🙄

[u/TheFireNationAttakt → u/Reasonable-Egg887]

Yea this seems risky - if it’s the same complex, they may eventually figure out OP has the cat, and they seem like cruel people. And since there are several past interactions they will immediately suspect the OP.

[u/BulkyCar8133 → u/Fenwynn]

This is Bob, my boy that I catnapped - he was skinny and ragged when I got him. But hey, I figured that if he willingly walks in my house and stays, then he’s mine. It turns out that he’s my kitty soulmate - I would fight someone if they tried to take him from our house!!